Grand Parade and Mandela's Balcony

Look at the central balcony of the building in front of you. On 11 February 1990, as evening fell, a 71-year-old man stepped out onto it with a sheet of paper in his hand. He had spent more than twenty-seven years behind bars. He was Nelson Mandela, and this square was packed to bursting.

1A square for parades

The Grand Parade is the oldest open space in the city. Van Riebeeck's first clay fort stood here, and once the Castle was finished the ground was kept as a drill square for the garrison. In time it became a market and the city's main meeting place.

The building is the City Hall, opened in 1905. Its architects, Harry Austin Reid and Frederick George Green, clad it in limestone imported from Bath in England, and its tower holds a carillon installed as a memorial to the First World War.

2‘A humble servant’

Mandela had left Victor Verster Prison that afternoon, about 60 kilometres away. The crowd waited for hours. When he finally spoke, he began by greeting them in the name of peace, democracy and freedom for all, and said:

“I stand here before you not as a prophet but as a humble servant of you, the people.”

In May 1994, newly elected president, he addressed the crowd from here once again. In July 2018, for the centenary of his birth, the bronze statue you see today was placed on the balcony.

3What to look for

• The statue of Mandela on the balcony, on the exact spot of the speech.
• The clock tower, which chimes the quarters Westminster-style.
• The Bath stone, a honey tone that changes with the light.